This was one book that I waited for like no other, except perhaps for Harry Potter(Dad being a catalyst here because I was never a reader then)so I waited and the day came, 7th October 2011.I rushed back from office to get a copy for myself and finished it in about 5-6 hours.
Now, I was never a Chetan Bhagat fan. I was persuaded to read his books by a friend and happened to start off with 2 States. Then the other 3, three mistakes of my life one night at a call center and of course the very best Five point someone in quick succession. I think my pace got faster with each book for they were brilliant to say the least. This guy was one guy who got me glued to the book like no other author.
Coming to the latest book Revolution 2020, the book starts off in typical Chetan Bhagat style with someone narrating (The Narrator) the story of his life to him. It is an all-together different idea compared to his previous books though, giving you a very different feel and experience as you read through. Love.Corruption.Ambition as the tagline for the book goes is really apt. The book is a mixture of all the 3, love taking the center-stage here. It then goes on about how the narrator goes on to explain how his life began and all the ups and downs and how finally a Politician comes into his life and that’s how the entire Corruption part unravels. Coming to the Ambition part where I feel Chetan Bhagat has not quite left a great impact, It is how 2 different guys (The narrator and his friend) go about with their lives, each filled with more struggles compared to the other and a lot of downs through their journey. But who gets out of all this fulfilling his ambition and passion is the real case; A case that is really hard to resolve. Love like I said takes center-stage with Chetan’s description of the girl like in all other books getting a tad bit boring; considering it has been quite similar in the other books too. But definitely not something the true Indian in would complain about. The mixture like I said is how all the 3, Love, Corruption and Ambition meet and the big parts they play throughout the lives in the book. The last few pages are something to look out for with deep concentration because it is there that you need to decide how you look at the entire story. The books concludes asking the reader to decide who the protagonist really is. That is the catch for it does leave you a little confused and definitely leaves you thinking.
Conclusion:
This book like all of Chetan Bhagat’s books is worth the read. But I would have been really happy if he had stressed more on Ambition and Corruption and leave the reader wondering how he/she could bring about a real change. What better time to leave the message than this, when our political system is in such tatters. I was left thinking more about the love part, again considering the true Indian inside of me.
